Plugs

Edd Vick’s latest story, “The Corsair and the Lady” may be found in Talebones #37.

Read Daniel Braum’s story Mystic Tryst at Farrgo’s Wainscot #8.

Read Rudi’s story “Detail from a Painting by Hieronymus Bosch” at Behind the Wainscot.

Ken Brady’s latest story, “Walkers of the Deep Blue Sea and Sky” appears in the Exquisite Corpuscle anthology, edited by Jay Lake and Frank Wu.

Frag Satan!

by JeremyT

“Satan, I summon you for a pwning!” I shouted, completing the incantation from within my circle of USB cables and hubs. There was a flash of green light, and then a sound like all the air was being sucked out of the LAN party.

“You dare challenge me?” Satan roared. He had a voice like, what if James Earl Jones and Tom Waits made a baby, but he looked about 15 years old, covered in acne with a purple Mohawk so sharp it was cutting my eyes from across the room. He strolled angrily to our table and sat down, taking a computer out of a messenger bag slung over his shoulder.

No cloven feet, no horns, no tail, but his sweet-ass laptop had a red sticker on it that said PITCHFORK in a devilish font. It emitted a blue glow and throbbed gently like a living thing. Ahh–my prize. I had to have it.

G.R., my best friend and clanmate, fell out of his ergonomic chair and onto his ass when Satan appeared. I continued with my challenge terms as the ritual required.

“One round of Counter-Strike. My soul against your computer,” I said.

Satan drew a cat-5e cable out a pocket to Hell in thin air. It made a sound like a thousand souls screaming for all eternity, but they shut up when he plugged into our hub. “Gamers are always so fucking cocky,” he said. “You’re on.”

Five sweaty minutes later, I put a bullet through Satan’s avatar’s head. He vanished in a cloud of acrid smoke, wailing and gnashing his teeth, but leaving the laptop behind.

“Dude,’ said G.R. “I can’t believe you just used wall haxx against Satan.”

I sniffed. “Not my fault he’s a total noob. I’m going to Hell in the end anyway, so I might as well have a totally sweet laptop until then.”

Dude,” G.R. said, clearly impressed. “What’s that summoning spell again?”

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